The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-11-24
TRAGEDY IND COMEDY.

| '''N' I'N''hA"'i'ii
~ have heard
That guilty creatures sitting at play" etc.
And again, in another place he says
"Thc plays the thing"
In the literature Of that time frequent
reference is made to the playhouse" and
the players" playing their parts. In
Gas You Like It," Shakespeare puts the
well known soliloquy into the mouth OF
jacques
"All the worlds n stage
And all the men aud women merely players.
Each man plays many parts" ETC.
Play and drama were also convertible
terms, as were comedy and tragedy, for
some time. The arrival OF tae players is
thus announced 10 Hamlet
"Iour honors players
Are come to play pleasant comedy"
Kettle, who wrote very carefully, says
that in "thc earlier days OF the English
DRAMA" the words, tragedy and comedy
appear to have been used inliIcrcnily to
designate any kind Of play. . The
play OF Appius and Virginia is styled
by Its author a 'trayical comedy and
Bale calls his miracle play, Gods Prom
isrs,' tragedy, and his 'Christs Tcmpta.
ton a comcdy. Before his time, tragedy
was used to signify any serious narrative
in veHc, and even late in the reign Of Eliz.
abeth the term was applied to other be-
sides dramatic productions" Hamlet, in
the third act, abiding 10 the play into
which he had inierpolatcd paaphrass Of
the story OF his fathers ghost, says
"for n the klng like not our comedy"
and Dante, We know, entitled his elm
fcrno' II comedy. Yet Shakespeare
puts into the mouth Of Polonius, in
the second act of Hamlet" a minute
that was in his day
more or less in use by dramatic
writer's. lie pronounced the players
who had agreed to subscrye Hamlct's
purpose rs 1.-The best actors in the world,
either for tragedy, comedy. history, pas
ioral, pastoral comedy, historical pas
toral, tragical historical, tragical-comical
and hiSiorical.pasioral." Steele. no doubt.
had the trlgical-comical in his mind when
he wrote his comedy. the "Lying Lover
In which the lover himself kills man while
in liquor With the rise Of the English
drama, after Shakespeare time, a closer
definition in the classification Of plays was
reached. and comedy was separated from
tragedy. Both these terms hal their on.
gin in the worship d Blcchus. Tho lat
Ter originated ia the winter oelcbra-
tons, AMI the i0fmer in The Joyous m.
gathering oi the vinays" The wori
tn-edy mean. '.the s5ns Il III goa" "
q name gwen, ''H5-as supP1se. beans the
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i16el.s bar. 90 sas fts crsi0ln n ths
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MT iiesHf,3us fr1siry. an1 dio ch0fus
t1r.lg ihsif s,isnf.1n b tie fI.ectaiofs.
4u.ggei AMI sstirlnsl them in the most
unrstrainsl m1nler" Colliaf. who has
ciosaly linked BIZ mans with that 81
Shakespeare. define tn-cdy and comedy
% mean 'thea'ficil productions, the char.
acien In which arr either dawn from life
~ arr intended 10 Represent liie, whether
thc.c characters b. actual or imaginary"
Thcse terms be- also admits include "a
specie, Of drama well known oi old Ia The
literature u this country, called history,
or chronicle history" and he speaks Of
the romantic drama" a. the clts.idca.
ton d a species In which the tram.
mels oi the uni,ics were dscgrdcd.
Growing steadily out Of this confusion,
COMEDY and tragedy have come again 10
have their original signi1caiion on the
modem stage Worcester defines tngcdy
10 b. "a dramatic composition or poem
representing human passions aud the wocs
aud misioHuncs II life In such manner
a. n excite grief, pity, indignation or hor.
ror opposed 10 comedy" which he defines
10 be- "a dramatic representation Of the
lighter faults. passions, actions aud iollics
Of mankind" But the more modern
dmma ani play has ouisiripped these mar.
TOW dimensions A from the Mysteries,
Monlites and Miracle Plays English
Tragedy aud Comedy had grown, ~ Dr.
Donh makes plain In his preface 10 his
Annals Of the Stage" 10 out Of these